St. Maximilian Kolbe, St. Francis merge
Kristin Lukowski of The Michigan Catholic
Published August 25, 2006
Detroit – The clustered parishes of St. Maximilian Kolbe in Macomb Township and St. Francis of Assisi in Ray Township became an official merged parish Aug. 3.
Fr. Robert Blondell, administrator of St. Francis of Assisi-St. Maximilian Kolbe, said since the former two parishes had done everything together anyway, “it worked very nicely into a merger.”
Fr. Blondell had been sent out to start up the new St. Maximilian Kolbe, founded in 1996, to eventually build its own building, he explained. Formerly operated out of an elementary school, the parish has most recently been operating out of a large house with a garage converted into a chapel, where weekday Masses had been held. Not counting the Hispanic community, for which numbers were not available, it has about 350 families.
St. Francis of Assisi, founded in 1968, has a small church that seats about 300 people. It has about 500 families. When the previous pastor was reassigned, Fr. Blondell took over as administrator, as the churches were about six miles apart. It worked out because St. Francis didn’t have a pastor and St. Maximilian didn’t have a church building, he explained.
With the Together in Faith process, it was decided that the two communities would merge together instead of operate as a cluster, as St. Maximilian hadn’t raised enough money to build a new church. The 40 acres of St. Maximilian property will eventually be sold and the whole operation will move into the St. Francis location.
Eventually, a new building with a new name will be constructed for the larger community, probably on property between the two former parishes, and St. Francis will likely be sold. “We need much more space,” Fr. Blondell said.
He said the sale of the St. Maximilian property would be enough to pay off debts at St. Francis. He expects it will be at least a few years before there is a new church building.
He also said the new area in which the diocese is looking for property has a lot of people, so there may be new parish members that come out of the new church.
During his time as pastor of St. Maximilian, Fr. Blondell also started a Mass in Spanish. The church now serves hundreds of Hispanic families through Masses and full-time Hispanic Ministry director, he said, and it’s like a whole other community with its different culture and language.
Other ministries include an emergency food pantry, youth programs, and participation in a rotating emergency shelter. “We do everything a big parish does,” he said.
For information for the newly-merged parish: contact St. Francis of Assisi-St. Maximilian Kolbe Parish, 62811 New Haven Road, Ray, 48096-3351. Or call (586) 749-9584.
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